Leon S. Kennedy
| Leon Scott Kennedy | |
|---|---|
| Resident Evil series character | |
| File:Leon S Kennedy.jpg A render of Leon Kennedy, as he appears in Resident Evil 4. | |
| First game | Resident Evil 2 |
| Created by | Shinji Mikami |
Leon Scott Kennedy is a fictional video game character from the Resident Evil survival horror series. He is one of the two main characters in Resident Evil 2, one of the three main characters in Resident Evil Gaiden, and the protagonist of Resident Evil 4.
During the events of Resident Evil 2, Leon is a rookie police officer who arrives in Raccoon City for his first day on the job, only to confront the T-Virus outbreak firsthand. He survives the incident. Six years later, in Resident Evil 4, Leon is now a secret agent for the U.S. government, and is assigned to protect the President's family.
Background
A man with a strong sense of justice and the duty to protect the weak, Leon, at the age of 21, was assigned to work for the Raccoon Police Department (R.P.D.) after graduating from the police academy. He arrived at Raccoon City on the night of September 29th, 1998, hours later than he was scheduled to, due to a breakup with his girlfriend at the time.
Raccoon City incident
On September 29th, Leon arrived to Raccoon City to begin his assignment, though it is never explained how he managed to trespass the United States Army blockade around the city. By the time Leon arrives, the majority of the city's inhabitants have already been killed and have returned "to life" as zombies. He was supposed to arrive for duty on September 28th, but he had gotten drunk at a party (to drown the sorrows of having broken up with his girlfriend, Alice (the same Alice from the non-canon film adaptations), accidentally overslept, and didn't leave until after sunset. On the way, he had gotten caught up in a traffic jam in New York, which made him even more late. While on the way to the station, Leon comes across a dead body in the middle of the road, and stops to assess it. In the meantime, a trucker at a gas station throws a zombie out of his truck, commenting on "why'd he bite me?" He drives off, foreshadowing what's to come. Horrified at what he has seen, Leon quickly turns around to realize that he is quickly becoming surrounded by Zombies, not to mention the "dead" body was after him now too. Luckily, he manages to escape from being their next meal. During this encounter, Leon crosses paths with another survivor Claire Redfield, who came to the city in search of her missing brother Chris Redfield. Soon after, they jump in a police car and drive around the city looking for possible survivors. Suddenly, a zombie springs to life in the back seat, and causes Leon to drive recklessly while trying to fight it off. In the end, they crash into a pole, and the zombie is thrown through the rear window or the windshield (depending on the scenario). Relieved, Leon and Claire catch their breath, but not before realizing that a tractor trailer had been bearing down on them since they started driving around, with the driver now turned into a zombie. In an instant, they jump out the sides of the car and the truck crashes, flipping over and exploding just as they escape. Separated, they agree to meet in the Police Station, where they later on agree to go their separate ways to find a way out of the city, using walkie-talkies to stay in contact with one another.
During his adventure of trying to escape Raccoon City, Leon meets yet another survivor named Ada Wong, a young woman whom claimed she was looking for her missing fiancé John (an Umbrella scientist). Together, they discover a secret entrance within the sewer which leads to one of Umbrella's secret facilities. During their bid to escape, Ada is mortally wounded (at first, by a mutated William Birkin's claw and later, by either a gunshot from Annette Birkin or Tyrant, depending on the scenario). Before Ada apparently "dies", Leon discovers Ada's true motives: she was actually a spy working for Umbrella's competitor and that she was assigned to obtain a sample of either the G- or T-Viruses. At the end of the fight in the B scenario, in which Leon fights Mr. X, a mysterious figure (presumably Ada, since this figure has her voice, her silhouette, and, if playing with Leon, you can see Sherry's pendant around her neck) drops a Rocket Launcher, thus giving them the advantage needed to kill the Tyrant.(Same event happens in Resident Evil 4, when Leon finishes Saddler off with a special rocket launcher, given by Ada.) Leon is reunited with Claire and the two (along with William Birkin's daughter, Sherry) make their escape through a secret railway and then escape the train, leaving the mutated Birkin to be destroyed in the self-destruct sequence. In an alternate ending, the mutated Birkin latches onto the train and Leon or Claire must fight it off.
In December of 1998, after the incident, Claire sets out to Europe to continue her search for Chris, while Leon remains in the U.S. He makes an undisclosed deal with the U.S. Government for Sherry's safety and, after that, joined an anti-Umbrella task force, participating in numerous classified missions until Umbrella's operations were shut down by the government. During one mission, he provided Claire's whereabouts to her brother, Chris, after receiving an e-mail message from her.
Starlight Cruiser incident
Sometime in 2000, Leon, now a member of an underground anti-Umbrella organization, was sent to eliminate a prototype B.O.W. that was believed to be among the passengers and crew of the luxury ocean cruiser, the Starlight. Upon his arrival, Leon discovered that there had been a T-virus outbreak onboard. At some point, Leon met a young survivor named Lucia and fought a good candidate for the B.O.W.: a large, grey humanoid who could produce tentacles from its abdomen and transform into an amoeba. After 24 hours without contact, fellow operative Barry Burton was sent to find Leon. He was eventually found unconscious. After he and Barry saved Lucia from the B.O.W. again, Barry left Lucia with Leon. When they saw Barry on the security camera talking to Umbrella, who had contacted him on the way there, they found him and Leon was seemingly betrayed by Barry. While Barry and Lucia were on an Umbrella-owned submarine, Leon killed the B.O.W., who was trying to destroy the ship's fuel converter, by blowing him into the steam ducts. Afterwards, Barry and Lucia found Leon. In the end, Leon, along with Barry and Lucia, killed the real B.O.W., a fully-grown parasite that had been removed from Lucia's body, with a hail of gunfire, but not before Leon was seemingly infected by the B.O.W. A small cut on his neck was bleeding green blood, but this infection was apparently benign and temporary. However, due to the fact that the game wasn't made by Capcom and poor sales of Resident Evil Gaiden, the game in which this incident is featured (and the complete non-mention of any of the occurrences that transpired in this game from future accounts) is considered to be a completely non-canonical event. There were no survivors except Leon, Barry and Lucia. All the crew and passengers were killed by the B.O.W. (The above events are from the game "Resident Evil: Gaiden" which is not considered by Capcom as part of the Resident Evil series' canon)
Post-Umbrella
With Umbrella gone, Leon, in remembrance of the people of Raccoon City, vows to protect the people and to make sure fiendish groups like Umbrella never have their way. He is apparently noticed by the U.S. Government for his already considerable talent and is recruited into its ranks. While receiving special training for a top-secret government organization working directly under the U.S. president, Leon befriends another agent named Jack Krauser. Krauser is reportedly killed in a helicopter crash sometime in 2002. Through walking along the razor's edge and pushing himself to the limit, Leon has changed from hapless rookie to one of the top agents in the world.
Los Illuminados incident
In 2004, a 27-year-old Leon was assigned to a special task force of the United States Secret Service. His first mission is a top secret one, to save President Graham's daughter, Ashley Graham, who disappeared shortly before. Information gathered pointed to the kidnappers being located in a remote area of Spain. Leon investigates on his own, along with two members of the local police. Unfortunately, it seems something bizarre has happened to the local townsfolk and after the two officers are promptly killed, Leon finds himself relying on his skills once again in a deadly fight for survival. Leon learns from his superiors that the perpetrators are a group called "Los Iluminados" (from Spanish, meaning "The Illuminated"), a religious cult led by a man named Osmund Saddler. This cult uses mysterious parasitic organisms known as "Las Plagas" (Spanish for "The Plagues") to take control of the local townsfolk, as well as many others around the area, such as a group of mercenaries. Although a seemingly hopeless situation, the fanatical cult finds the formidable Leon to be more than they bargained for as he foils attempt after attempt to kill him. During the course of his mission, Leon is helped by Luis Sera, a man who is revealed to be a researcher who used to work for Saddler, but betrayed him. Leon also once again has a chance encounter with Ada, who is also involved in this incident. She provides assistance to Leon, but has a fight of her own to battle out, as well. Leon is assisted by Ingrid Hunnigan, an information analyst and fellow government official via a communicator. As Leon progresses, however, he finds the transmission hijacked by the cult and he is forced to fend for himself.
Leon eventually finds Ashley in a church and he becomes responsible for her safety as the two make their way around the Los Illuminados-controlled area. It is revealed, however, that both Leon and Ashley have been injected with Las Plagas parasites and are now in a race against time to find a cure for this before they are forever turned into Saddler's slaves. Acquiring weapons from a mysterious merchant with a Cockney accent, Leon manages to fight his way through many harrowing perils within the local village and a mysterious Castle run by the cult. He eventually fights against two of Saddler's underlings, village chief Bitores Mendez and the Castle's castellan, Ramon Salazar, who captured Ashley and sent her to an island. After journeying to the island and slaughtering countless of the afrementioned mercenaries, Leon confronts his former comrade, Jack Krauser, who was now working as a double agent for both a mystery party and Saddler. It is revealed to the player (but not Leon, necessarily) that this mysterious third player in the conflict is none other than Albert Wesker, whom Ada is also working for. Unknown to Leon, a secret battle is being waged behind the scenes, which is explored in Ada's unlockable scenario, "Separate Ways". Eventually, Ashley is abducted and Leon must race against time to rescue her before her Plaga fully develops, not to mention his own. With continued support from Ada, Leon fights his way through a local military base, where Saddler and the cult have taken refuge. Fighting against both a deadly enemy and the enemy within, this battle tests all of Leon's strength and skill. Leon fights against Krauser for the last time and eventually saves Ashley and himself after removing Las Plagas from within them by use of a special radiation machine developed by the late Luis, who was killed by Saddler. Afterwards, Leon battles Saddler in his true form and, with Ada's help (who provides him with a specialized rocket launcher), is able to put an end to him and his plot.
After the battle, Ada takes the Plagas sample from Leon and makes her getaway, but gives Leon and Ashley a means to escape, as well, via a jet-ski. Despite this turn of events, Leon is aware that he still may have not shed his affection for Ada, as his reply to Ashley's question "So who was that woman anyway?" is "She's like a part of me I can't let go. Let's leave it at that." After completing his mission, Leon lightly flirts with Ingrid Hunnigan, but she rebuffs him with a reminder that he is still on duty. Leon can only sigh and say, "Story of my life."
Appearances
Leon is one of the two main playable characters in Resident Evil 2, the other being Claire Redfield. Depending on the order the characters are played, events in his scenario changes. He also stars in Resident Evil 4, he will appear in the upcoming Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and he also appeared in Resident Evil Gaiden, a non-continuity spin-off of the series, as one of three controllable party members as well as making an appearance in several of the novels.
He was voiced by Paul Haddad in Resident Evil 2 and Paul Mercier in Resident Evil 4. In the latter, Leon's facial features were designed after model Christian Duerre and his motion capture work was set by stunt actor Teruaki Ogawa. He was also portrayed by actor Brad Renfro in a series of Japanese Biohazard 2 ads directed by George Romero.
Wardrobe
Leon wears a full-body R.P.D. uniform in Resident Evil 2 with a vest in contrast to other officers in the game who wear summer uniforms. This outfit is predominantly different shades of blue and is used by the newly-established R.P.D. Select Police Force (as evident in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis). He has two alternate costumes to wear in the game that changes his shooting style with the handgun. The first is a casual outfit consisting of a leather jacket with jeans, while the second costume is a tank top with cargo pants and an R.P.D. cap. The Nintendo 64 version replaced these costumes with a S.T.A.R.S. uniform and another consisting of camouflage pants with T-shirt, leather vest and sunglasses.
In Resident Evil 4, he wears a charcoal-black 5.11 shirt and blue pants with a brown gun holster over the body, as well as a brown B3 bomber jacket which he loses early in the game, much to the chagrin of players who liked its look. When playing Ada's scenario Separate Ways, one learns the jacket was stolen by a Ganado when Leon and Luis were captured at the end of the first part of Chapter 1. He sports a variety of different holsters, pouches, and equipment around his waist. Later in the game, the player has the option of acquiring the Tactical Vest, which puts a black assault vest and assorted gear over Leon's standard outfit. The vest reduces damage by 30% as well. The player can also unlock the classic R.P.D. uniform from Resident Evil 2, which comes equipped with the vest.
In the PlayStation 2 port of Resident Evil 4, he is given a classic mafia-style outfit that is unlocked along with the Chicago Typewriter after the player clears the Separate Ways scenario. Since the Typewriter has infinite ammo, Leon will simply tilt his hat when the reload button is pushed and if the player hits reload four times, Leon will throw his hat in the air and catch it. Wearing the Mafia costume will change Leon's pose on the attaché case screen while the Typewriter is equipped and will change the Typewriter's magazine from a standard box magazine to a drum magazine. The mafia outfit also changes the look of Leon's knife. Instead of a combat knife, it becomes a switchblade to complete the authentic criminal motif. This change is purely cosmetic, and does not affect the performance of the knife or Leon himself at all.
It is interesting to note that as of now, Leon has the largest overall wardrobe of any of the Resident Evil series' male characters at 7 costumes (including the tactical vest).
Character analysis
Over the years, Leon has become the most developed character of Resident Evil's storyline. While starting as a rookie cop who just happened to have a penchant for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, he turned into an influential character and finally evolved into the elite professional agent that we've seen in his last appearance.
After Resident Evil 2, Leon had taken a role like the one of Wesker, manipulating things from behind the scenes. He makes an undisclosed deal with the U.S. Government for Sherry Birkin's safety according to his epilogue file (which evidently served as a foreshadowing for his occupation as a government agent in Resident Evil 4) and his information skills allowed Chris and Claire Redfield to reunite, and may even have saved both of their lives in Resident Evil Code: Veronica, despite the fact he never appears on screen and is only mentioned. In Resident Evil: Survivor, it is revealed in the end that the main protagonist, Ark Thompson, was actually sent to Sheena Island by Leon on a mission.
In many of the officially-sanctioned adaptations of the series (which includes novelizations and graphic novels), Leon's role in the battle against Umbrella is enthusiastically explored in various ways. Indeed, it seems much of the character's charisma has been accumulated with curiosity as to what he had been up to all this time.
It was only inevitable at that point, that when his long awaited reappearance as the main character in Resident Evil 4, series fans generally rejoiced at his return and in a whole new storyline with a whole new feel to boot. While he was capable in Resident Evil 2, he felt more vulnerable and out of the situation's control due to his status as a rookie.
As of Resident Evil 4, Leon has an overall aura of elite skill and confidence, and is an accomplished martial artist. This makes Leon's presence in his new role commanding to say the least. Many feel the game may have even been less tense and frightening just because of how "in control" Leon feels in the game, lending the game more of a 'survival action', rather than 'survival horror', element. Though Leon has been given elite skills, some of his feats (the "laser hallway" sequence in particular) are somewhat questionable, placing it on the same level as the believability of Solid Snake's stunts in Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, in which all of his aerial-based stunts are more suited for an Asian martial arts movie rather than skills made for the United States Armed Forces, as well as conflicting with the semi-established realism from the previous games.
Trivia
- Originally in Resident Evil 1.5, the prototype version of Resident Evil 2, Leon and a small group of officers are barricaded in the R.P.D. precinct during the incident. As the game begins, the precinct would be compromised, and Leon would declare to his colleagues that to escape they would have to brave the horrors outside or stay and die. Leon had two supporting characters: Marvin Branagh and Ada Wong (who wore a researcher's outfit).
- Character connections: Leon sent Detective Ark Thompson to Sheena Island in Resident Evil: Survivor, worked alongside Jack Krauser, has a passing familiarity with Kevin Ryman, keeps in touch with Claire Redfield, and worked with Barry Burton in the uncanonical Resident Evil Gaiden.
- Conceptual designs for Leon feature illustrations of him wearing an armored vest with Umbrella's logo and the acronym U.S.S., which was part of a proposed armor system.
- Leon originally had a much different character design: when Ayumi Saito interviewed him, Producer Shinji Mikami claimed that Leon looked too much like Chris Redfield.
See also
- Resident Evil 2
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil Gaiden
- Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
- Luis Sera
- Ashley Graham
- Ada Wong
- Claire Redfield
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